Dummy piano



(No Model.)

J. CASEY.

DUMMY PIANO.

No. 344,165. Patented June 22, I886.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN CASEY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

DUMMY PIANO.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 344,165, dated June 22, 1886.

Application filed August 3, 1885. Serial No. 173,357.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN CASEY, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk, of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Dummy Pianos; and I do hereby declare the same to be described in the following specification and represented in the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure 1 is a top view, Fig. 2 a transverse section, and Fig. 3 a longitudinal section, of an instrument; provided with my invention, the nature of which is defined in the claims, hereinafter presented. The plane of section of Fig.2 is through one of the keys lengthwise thereof, the plane of section of Fig. 3 being taken crosswise of the keys and 1engthwise through the sounder, to be described.

In the said drawings, A A A, &c., and B B B, &c., denote a series of keys arranged like those of an ordinary organ or piano forte. To the lower edge of each key, at the rear part of the key, a flat metallic spring, 0, is fastened by screws a b going through it and into the key, the rearmost of such screwsviz., that marked bbeing arranged at about threefourths of an inch from the next adjacent end of the key. Each key has its spring secured to the bottom board,c, of the case D by a screw, (Z, that goes down through the spring near its end and screws into the said board. Between the two screws (I and I) the spring is bent over and rests upon a bridge, E. A screw, 70, to limit the rise of the key, goes upward through a hole, Z, in the bottom board and screws into the key.

In the above-mentioned particulars my improved dummy piano is like that described in Letters Patent No. 3I5,72i, granted April 14, 1885, to me.

In carrying out my present invention in the manner represented I have combined with such dummy piano not only a sounder or metallic trough to extend underneath and across the several keys, but a wire or striker to project from each key into the said trough, so as to cause the said wire in each descent, as well as in each ascent, of the key to strike against the sounder in order to produce aslight sound.

In Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings the sounder is shown at F, it being a strip of sheet (No model.)

metal bent into a trough form, and connected at each end of it to one of two levers, G, that are at their lower ends fulcrumed to the two end portions, 0 0, of the case D. in which the keys are situated. From the lower edge of each key a striker or wire, H, fastened to the key, is extended into the trough or sounder, which, when in its rear position, is arranged so as to be struck by the wire in a rise as well as in a fall of the key, such being to enable a performer while playing the keys to hear a slight sound during each movement of any one of them. These slight sounds are of much advantage to a player on the instrument, especially in what is termed legato playing or movements of the keys.

By means of the lovers the sounder can be moved either into or out of engagement with the several strikers or wires H, the moving of such levers forward causing the sounder to be advanced out of the paths of movement of the several strikers.

I do not claim, broadly, in a fingerexercising device for musicians the combination, with a series of keys. of sound-producing devices and strikers, or means fol-operating such sound-producing devices by the said keys, all being constructed and arranged so that a sound is emitted on each depression, as well as on each return movement, of the key.

I claim- 1. The combination, with the keys of a dummy piano, of a metallic trough disposed under them, and a striker or wire projecting from such key into or arranged with the said sounder, so as to strike it in a movement of the key, as set forth.

2. The combination, with the keys of a dummy piano, of wires or strikers projecting from them, as described, and of a metallic trough disposed under such keys and supported by levers or devices by which it may be moved transversely, so as to throw iteither into or out of the paths of movement of such strikers, all being substantially as shown, and 9 for the purpose specified.

JOHN CASEY. v Vitnesses:

B. H. EDDY, ERNEST B. PRATT. 

